Just back from DLR. WDW veteran here

[Jokiho]

Much appreciation to all those that contributed to the success of the trip over the past 6 weeks. Wanted to share some thoughts:

-I go to disneyworld every few years. Essentially I have family in the Florida area so for me, it's easy to pair up a vacation with the obligatory family visit.

1. I had posted awhile back if 2 days were enough. Well, for two people, going on a friday and saturday in late April, I can safely say yes, provided you have MaxPass. That made all the difference. We were able to get on a number of rides twice in fact. We probably could have hit up EVERYTHING if we were fully committed to rides and entertainment, but we also are foodies and we ate our way through the park

2. Food:
-corndog- highly recommend. Best corndog I've ever had.
-strawberry Begnets- light, fluffy, delicious
- Chilled noodle color changing salad- refreshing, but not enough for a meal. More like a snack.
-Mickey pretzel- this is a good choice for a stand-by ride snack
-Churros- highly recommend. No surprise there. Get them when they're fresh.
-Carthay Circle- We were looking forward to this one. But I had read reviews that the fried biscuits were over-hyped. Nope. They were absolutely delicious. Firm on the outside, flavorful and moist on the inside.
-dolewhips- also good. I think the secret about the shorter line on the inside of the tiki attraction is out. It was nearly as as long as the outside one.
-Cove Bar- The lobster nachos were good, but a bit over-hyped. Strong fish taste (and we're normally seafood lovers).


Ride highlights:
-Indiana Jones- My favorite! we rode it twice
-Space Mountain- too short and not as good as Florida, although the track is smoother.
- Radiator Racers- There was a 2 hour wait, but with Maxpass we were on in 15 minutes. Folks, this isn't a 2-hour worthwhile attraction. TBH I am not too familiar with Cars, so if you have a Cars fan, then it's worth it I suppose. But really, the whole land outside is themed to Cars, so I just don't think the ride itself should have replicated the areas that were just outside. We only rode it once.
-Roger Rabbit- the material has so much potential with the ability to go through toontown. But instead the ride goes through mostly...warehouse Scenes. I know Roger has lost favor in the park, and that probably explains this squandered opportunity.
-Some rides we elected to skip- Splash Mountain, jungle cruise, Dumbo. The latter two are at WDW. Splash mountain- my sister hates "dips" so that one was a no-go, but I understand WDW is slightly better so I don't feel too bad about missing it.

Observations:
-I can see why locals love it! It's definitely a locals park and I could tell. Not as many tourists here. It's very small compared to Disneyworld and my feet appreciated that. Still I like the expansiveness and room to explore, especially in Epcot where you could spend a whole day strolling around the World Showcase. On the other hand, it's awe-inspiring to know this was Walt's park and the others are somewhat copies. It's like this is the heart of Disney.

- I still felt the Disney bubble when inside the park. I don't think that one needs to spend the exorbitant prices on lodging at a Disney hotel for this park. At WDW it's much more essential because it's so massive that it just takes awhile to get from one place to the next. Hence, staying on property helps with that.

- Parkhopping- essential for Disneyland. Not so much with Disneyworld. Because Disneyland was so small, by getting up early and using Ridemax, we were through 75% of it by 10:30AM. The ability to ParkHop added variety. Frankly I almost felt like the two parks were basically one park.

All in all I would visit Disneyland again, but for me, it would be difficult. I'm in the midwest and my family is on the eastcoast, so Florida makes more sense from that standpoint. Honestly, I didn't think the Parks were too vastly different and that's probably because they are both equally fun to me and their respective positive differences add to the experience and cancel out the negatives. Yes, Disneyworld is huge and a pain to navigate, but the hugeness provides more areas to explore from a landscaping and environment perspective. Disneyland is quaint and definitely more "homey." Its like a community park. I think 2 days is enough to ride the heavy hitters twice and still have room for most of the other rides.

One last thing...
Wish I could have ridden Pirates! But that's for another trip I guess!

 

[LittleMissMagic]

-Some rides we elected to skip- Splash Mountain, jungle cruise, Dumbo. The latter two are at WDW. Splash mountain- my sister hates "dips" so that one was a no-go, but I understand WDW is slightly better so I don't feel too bad about missing it.

Ahh, but we just reopened Splash Mountain - redid all of the drops, refreshed the animatronics and scene lighting, and made some horticulture adjustments!
And Dumbo - we just opened it Friday with a graphics makeover, change to loading style, and a shaded and accessible queue.
It's okay, they don't vary much from WDW versions, I'm just proud of our new work.

Glad you had a great trip at Disneyland! Come back when you can!

 

[Jokiho]

Ahh, but we just reopened Splash Mountain - redid all of the drops, refreshed the animatronics and scene lighting, and made some horticulture adjustments!
And Dumbo - we just opened it Friday with a graphics makeover, change to loading style, and a shaded and accessible queue.
It's okay, they don't vary much from WDW versions, I'm just proud of our new work.

Glad you had a great trip at Disneyland! Come back when you can!

Yeah the Dumbo loading area looks fantastic! I was very impressed!

Yeah, with Splash Mountain I was tempted to go on. The truth is.... I was busy eating my way through the park. I need to get on my exercise routine again to work these calories off!

Loved the California weather. Truly beautiful here! I will miss it. I’m boarding the plane back now for the Midwest

 

[Kender]

Roger Rabbit's theme is based more on the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit rather than just being a Roger Rabbit generic ride. That's why it's set mostly in a warehouse. Think of it like going into the back alleys/dark locales of Toon Town where things aren't so friendly and shady practices happen... Like patty cake! Because it is still Toon Town, lol.

 

[Jokiho]

Roger Rabbit's theme is based more on the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit rather than just being a Roger Rabbit generic ride. That's why it's set mostly in a warehouse. Think of it like going into the back alleys/dark locales of Toon Town where things aren't so friendly and shady practices happen... Like patty cake! Because it is still Toon Town, lol.

Ah, this is a good perspective. You know, I think my disappointment stems from basically not having enough of Roger! As a child of the 80s I wish he was utilized more in the Park.

Actually since it’s been awhile since I was at a Disney Park. So long that I haven’t seen the gutting of fantasyland at WDW. It was nice to see the classic dark rides of the classic movies I grew up with back when they used to be re-released in theaters in the 80s. I truly hope that NEVER changes at Disneyland. Those rides are precious! I LOVED Pinocchio!

 

[DharmaLou]

I hate the Roger Rabbit ride - rode it once about 6 years ago - never need to do it again!
The theming on Racers is spot on, which makes it even more awesome.

 

[Kender]

Ah, this is a good perspective. You know, I think my disappointment stems from basically not having enough of Roger! As a child of the 80s I wish he was utilized more in the Park.

Actually since it’s been awhile since I was at a Disney Park. So long that I haven’t seen the gutting of fantasyland at WDW. It was nice to see the classic dark rides of the classic movies I grew up with back when they used to be re-released in theaters in the 80s. I truly hope that NEVER changes at Disneyland. Those rides are precious! I LOVED Pinocchio!

Oh totally get it. I love Roger Rabbit too (although I'm just a "was born '85" child so I'm actually a 90s kid) and get so excited when I've gotten to meet him. A Jessica should always love him I think, lol! I've joked about changing my last name to Rabbit just for the humor value of it. It would be nice to see a better presence for him.

Just thought it worth mentioning why the ride is like it is since we're enough years away from the film that not all might make the connection immediately. I imagine younger children especially probably wonder why it's so dreary! I like the ride (won't wait more than 15 minutes, though), but generally avoid Toon Town except to go get frozen yogurt (as it's the only location to get it... every where else is soft serve ice cream).

And I hear you on Fantasyland. I was floored to learn what they did to it at WDW. In the same thought, though, I'm still sad they took out Country Bear Jamboree at DLR. There's definitely some trade offs back and forth that are both better and worse between the two depending on one's perspective.

Oh! And RSR I think is the best ridden single rider. My mom and I love when we end up in competing cars and get to race each other. I never pull FPs for that one unless a group I'm with really wants to. I feel it adds something more to the ride getting to race your family and friends

 

[theluckyrabbit]

So glad to hear that you and your sister had a good trip! Come back again to ride POTC!

 

[Shanti]

We spent a weekend at Disneyland in November after having done many WDW trips, and came to many of the same conclusions, especially about the value of parking hopping and MaxPass at DLR. We covered everything we wanted (our favorites multiple times) in two days using those, along with EMH.

A couple of differences we had are that we loved staying onsite at DLR & felt it really added to the experience, and that we thought RSR was an awesome ride.